The "My Favorite Column" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Fed the cats and headed out the driveway for the morning paper.  Sunday, so the paper is immense as compared to other days of the week.  One of the sections of the paper is titled LIVING and deals with routine life in the city of Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  One story told of the many problems that are happening due to vaping which is beginning to claim the lives of some of those who chose to do it.  One of my favorite parts of the section though is titled "The Lancaster That Was".  It goes back in newspaper files to dig out stories that might interest newspaper readership and tells what happened 100 years ago, 75 years ago, 50 years ago and 25 years ago.  I checked out the 100 years ago story which reported on a "hearty" welcome for returning soldiers in the eastern end of the county.  Soldiers returning home to Lancaster County areas known as Paradise, Leaman Place, Kinzers, Gordonville and Intercourse were treated to a "jubilee" at Beiler's Meadow.  The newspaper edition also told of a big Labor Day Picnic at Rocky Springs given by The Central Labor Union.  It drew 12,000 people to the park where they had a baby show, sporting events and guessing contests.  Prizes were wristwatches, newspaper subscriptions, cigarettes and packs of tobacco.  75 years ago the stories in the newspaper dealt with reopening of county schools.  The reopening was in question due to a polio outbreak.  21 people had cases of infantile paralysis which was below the state's threshold, so schools would open on time.  In the same edition of the newspaper was a story about building a new police station in the city.  Several sites were being considered.  On a lighter note, Dorothea E. Woods gave birth eight days later to Larry W. Woods, renowned author of this blog.  50 years ago a seaplane crashed in the nearby Susquehanna River.  Luckily the three passengers survived the crash.  The crash was caused by the plane hitting the water wrong and slamming down into the river.  The plane was an old Navy seaplane built in 1943.  It was reported that if they had been in any other plane they probably would have died.  The same edition told of the State Police launching their "Bring 'Em Back Alive" campaign to ask returning vacationers to drive carefully.  

Mailman saves dog.
Lancaster Newspapers

Finally, 25 years ago a national leader in preservation visited the county to help residents deal with all the new "big box" stores.  But, the final story showed a Lancaster mail carrier holding a cute little black kitten.  Seems he opened one of the big blue mailboxes on the corner of North Pine and West King Streets and found the little kitten inside.  He promptly took the kitten to the Organization for the Responsible Care of Animals.  ORCA discovered the female kitten had a dislocated hip, probably from being tossed in the mailbox.  The mail carrier named his new friend Maily.  All these stories were part of the "The Lancaster That Was" section of the September 1 editions on their respective years.  The Sunday article is always one first that I turn to when I grab the morning paper.   It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.